Is attention a resource or a relationship?
Tom Chatfield’s short essay, "The attention economy,” raises an interesting question: why do we think of attention as a resource? For all the sophistication of a world in
The Internet of Things is just another way to distract you
One of the things you always, and I mean always, hear about Internet of Things and smart home devices is that they “just work.” They’re all like these
Habituation, attention, and distraction
We often regard a failure of focus as a failure of will, or a moral failure. But there’s also a physical and physiological foundation to our capacity to
“College students who are addicted to the Internet report positive and negative effects on their family relationships”
Georgia State University researcher Susan Snyder is studying the impact of Internet addiction (or PIU, Problematic Internet Use, described as >25 hours/week of non-school or -work use) on family
“The human voice still holds our attention”
Writer Joe Fassler has a piece in The Atlantic on “How Fiction Can Survive in a Distracted World.” It’s mainly a conversation with author Kevin Barry, and it
“digital tools have been engineered specifically to elicit compulsive behaviour”
Michael Schulson in Aeon writes about designing devices for addiction: [S]hould individuals be blamed for having poor self-control? To a point, yes. Personal responsibility matters. But it’s important
In modern world, spam eat you!
The Guardian's Oliver Burkeman notes that a recent Symantec report estimates that less than half of email sent is now spam-- hooray!-- but sees a downside: As “classic”
This is why I turn off alerts: New study finds awareness of notifications is a distraction
One of the most effective things I’ve done to get my phone to defend rather than attack my attention is to turn off as many notifications and alerts
Turn the Apple Watch “from an accessory of distraction into a tool of genuine usefulness”
The Wall Street Journal has an article about how to keep your Apple Watch from distracting you. Some of the recommendations are similar to the ones I made
Interview with ABC Sunshine Coast on technology and distraction
A couple days ago I was interviewed on ABC Sunshine Coast's morning show about technology and distraction. You can now listen to the interview on Soundcloud: For a